Unknown
by LostLoveLostLife
Summary: She comes into his life and brings along mystery into it.
1. Chapter 1

Alex sat next to Tom in the cafeteria and ate his sandwich coldly.  
"So…is it, like, over?" Tom dared ask.  
Alex looked up. "I can only hope." He said through his full mouth.  
"You…are aware that there's going to be a prom at the end of this week right?" Tom sounded as if he was reminding him. Alex sighed. It was Monday and he had just returned to school. Tom had already got a date but Alex was barely interested.  
"Yea."  
"Who you going with?" Tom knew very well Alex had not asked anyone. Alex treated it as a reminder that he had to go find a date.  
He shrugged indifferently. "Who'll want to go out with someone who's always calling in sick?" He tried to joke.  
Tom laughed. "I'm sure a lot of people would want to." Alex saw a group of girls looking at him and when he looked back at them they giggled frivolously.  
"I'm not sure if I want to spend my time with immature girls who giggle all the time." He added lamely.  
Tom finished his meal. "Or the mature nerds?" He left his question hanging cruelly over Alex and left for his class as Alex went his own way.

Alex was early for his French lesson so he sat himself at the back of the class at an empty pair of tables and pulled out a book Jack had recommended him. It was 'to help forget and get over'. He stared blankly at the cover. The word 'Eragon' was embezzled on it in a bold color. Whoever read stories of a boy and a dragon? Was Jack hoping he would get himself lost in fantasy storybooks and forget all that had happened to him? Someone sat next to him but he didn't care, not at least until _she_ spoke.  
"Nice book choice." Alex tried to detect any hint of disdain in it but no, it was just a simple comment probably indifferent. He looked up. A pretty face looked back at him. She had her light brown hair in a bun with some hair falling over her face and pale green eyes. A perfectly sculptured nose and perfectly curved lips that were light pink. Two diamonds sparkled on her ears and she smiled so prettily. She sounded British. "Eragon is a really nice book." She continued.  
"Thanks." Alex was determined to end the conversation.  
"Are you new around here? I just joined the start of last week and I didn't see you around."  
"No I just recovered. Was sick." Alex was being very vague.  
She got the hint. "Hope you're better." She murmured and flipped open a book that got Alex really interested. It was a plain black book on the outside and on the inside was full of drawn diagrams and neat scribbles. He peered closer and she flipped it shut though not acknowledging she had seen him looking.  
"If you really want, you could ask." She looked at him with her dazzling eyes. "But I wouldn't let you see it anyway." She sounded amused.  
Mrs. Thompson had walked in now and everyone in the class scrambled back to their seats. French was about to begin.  
"Nice to have you back, Alex." He nodded uneasily as everyone in the room turned to look at him. "See you have Erika next to you, she can help you as we go by." She continued babbling in French and Alex realized he could still understand. He saw that Erika took kept her black book and took out her math homework and began doing the sums instead of paying attention the way he was trying so hard to. He didn't resist the temptation to glance over at her work and when he saw how tough the sums she was doing, he made sure he didn't look at them again. He could swear the standard of the questions were those most probably done by students at least two years older than them. She mumbled softly to herself until Mrs. Thompson's voice rang through the air. "Erika." She looked up immediately and studied the question on the board and answered it in flawless non-accented French and if she had not spoken to Alex earlier, he would have been convinced she was a French and not a British. The teacher sighed. Alex whispered to Erika, "She asked you to hand out the books." She whispered a 'thanks' to him and stood up and headed towards the stack of books at the back of the class. He saw her slim figure. She had broad shoulders and a shapely figure, her arms could be somewhat muscular and so were her legs. She was tanned and he could infer she either sun bathed a lot or did a sport. He looked back into his textbook as she went round handing out the books. Before he could barely understand the first paragraph, Erika tossed his book onto his table and sat down next to him. She sighed to her self and began writing with her right hand again. Not before long was the lesson over and the students hurried back to their homerooms for their lessons. Tom met Alex just outside the class.  
"Hey. How was French?" He nudged Alex.  
Alex looked at the shorter boy. "How was German?"  
"Oh the usual boring stuff. By the way, you've got a lot of math homework to catch up with." Tom patted him on the back as they streamed back into their class. They sat down in their seats just before Mr Covey entered the room.  
"Okay people! Today…" A girl burst into the class. She had a white bag slung over her shoulder and her hair into a bun. She walked right up to Mr Covey and dumped a whole stack of papers unto his table then headed to a seat near Alex and sat down. It was Erika. Mr Covey was still struggling with the papers she had left on his table and he stacked them neatly at the side.  
"Next time try to be punctual." He muttered. "And where's the one on Viete's Formulae?" He flipped through the papers. Everyone in the room turned to look at her as she fumbled through her bag. Alex noticed some of the boys eyeing her. He had to admit, her beauty could not go unnoticed. Erika leaned forward and passed a rather thick stack of papers to the boy in front of her and Alex noted how he almost flushed and how she didn't care. They passed it forward to Mr Covey, each taking a chance to glance at it.  
"What's Viete's Formulae?" Alex asked Tom. Tom only shrugged.  
"She's doing stuff way advanced and practically falls asleep during class but Mr Covey can't do anything 'cause she's not breaking any rules. Besides, she's learnt everything there is to be learnt in our year." Tom explained. "And of course she's the teacher's pet for doing so well. In fact, she's every teacher's pet though I wouldn't know anything for her other language."  
"French." Alex said. "I saw her during my lesson. She wasn't paying attention too but could answer the question immediately and she spoke it very well." He observed.  
"Rider! Pay attention." Mr Covey had caught them talking. "Answer the question."  
Alex studied the board and found he couldn't work it out. He looked to Tom for help but his friend shook his head sorrowfully.  
"People, can anyone answer this question?" Mr Covey sounded exasperated.  
Erika raised her black pen and Mr Covey's face relaxed only slightly.  
"Well basically if anyone has common sense they would know that the square root of two would be approximately 1.414. With that, you would be able to estimate the rough value of the equation. Manipulate the numbers to your advantage and the topic inequality is not so difficult after all." She crossed her arms.  
"Perhaps an example?" A girl challenged her from across the room. Erika shook her head sadly and got up. She took the marker from Mr Covey and started working the sum out quickly with big numbers written clearly on the board. She didn't stop to think at all, she just wrote everything so quickly, faster than Alex could copy at least.  
"And there you have it. Inequalities had never looked so simple." She grumbled sarcastically and got back into her seat. Alex made a mental note on her attitude. It was unexplainable. Sarcastic perhaps, bold? Quiet? Withdrawn? Outspoken? He didn't exactly understand. There was only one thing he knew too well, that girl was intelligent and he meant intelligent, most probably the world's brainiest kid or something.  
"For this year's project work I want all of you to work in groups of threes to finish a task on polynomial numbers. You have yet to learn it yet so I expect you to go a do all the work necessary yourself. Come up with a power point to explain everything." That was how the lesson had ended. Mr Covey personally chose the group himself so that there was an 'equal spread of intelligence'.  
"Rider! You're with Miss Louvre and… err ah! Tom!" Mr Covey had grown exhausted of grouping them so he conveniently chucked Tom with Alex.  
As history began, Alex casually glanced over to where Erika was seated – or at least was supposed to be seated. She was not there. At the end of the day, she was still not there. He assumed she left for home or had something important so he brushed the thought aside and retired back to his somewhat home where he had no relatives waiting for him.

"Morning." Tom met up with Alex outside the school gate.  
"Got any idea where the hell Erika was? We have to get started on our project work. I'm not failing math again." He cursed.  
Alex looked at his friend as he continued walking. "Nope. Think she left halfway during lesson. And anyway I don't think she'll want to fail any of her…"  
A girl fell to the ground painfully. "Watch where you're going!" It was Erika. Alex stared at her incredulous, she had fresh scratches on her legs, which he hadn't seen yesterday. A long gash ran up her arm and some scratches near her neck soon caught his attention instead. She tried to get up and he saw her face twist in pain.  
"I'm sorry." He extended his arm.  
She forced herself up without accepting his help. "Apologies are just words." She muttered. "You hurt me badly." Alex saw she was using the opportunity to blame him for the bruises she had obviously not got from falling.  
"Hey that's not fair! You can't blame him just because you're clumsy on you're…" Tom cut in fiercely.  
She brushed her hair away from her face. "The world's never fair you ignorant child." The two boys watched her sort of limp, but yet try not to, away into the school building. There was something odd about her - no, it was something obviously odd. The cuts and bruises. The way she spoke, like she had seen too much of evil and the bad side of the world that it had completely twisted her.  
"You know what?" Tom poked Alex in the shoulder, in a daze. "She sounded just like you."


	2. Chapter 2

So sorry I forgot to add a disclaimer for my first chapter!!  
Please review the story!! Ok I know not all have even read it yet…thanks!

DISCLAIMER: Alex Rider ain't mine…….oh the fun I could have if it were…

___________________________________________________________________________

"What?!" Alex looked at his friend, searching his friend's face for any sign of humor but none. Tom stared back at Alex, he wore a look of seriousness on his face.

"No kidding. I could swear it was you." Alex sighed and looked away.

"She's different."

"I don't know, let's just go in." They walked into the plain building without speaking and headed for the assembly hall where everyone was to gather every morning. As they found a spot on the floor Alex saw Erika slip in and sit at the far corner. She was wearing a jacket to cover the gash on her arm and tied into two ponytails in an effort to cover the scratches on her neck. On her lap was her bag that probably covered all the obvious marks on her legs but she couldn't continue hiding them for so long could she? A teacher who Alex forgot his name spoke into the microphone.

"Good morning students." He pushed his glasses up. "I would like to inform all of you that a compulsory summer camp would be scheduled during the summer break and that attendance is mandatory."

"You already said that." A boy who found it funny called out.

The teacher pushed up his glasses. "As I was saying, you will be sent to a camp at the SAS training grounds and made to spend two weeks there. You will learn basic survival skills and basic self-defense techniques. You will live like in the army though your living conditions might be slightly advised." He pushed his glasses up again and Alex found it increasingly annoying. The last thing he needed to hear was anything to do with SAS. "Your first period teacher will give you the packing list and the dates and details. If anyone of you cannot attend the camp for a valid reason, please submit your reasons by the end of this week before your…" He prodded his glasses. "Ahem, prom." Some boys hooted playfully and he ignored it. "Now go to your classes."

Alex didn't like the details of the camp. It started on a Monday and everyone had to gather at the SAS training ground by six. They had to pack whatever necessary and no food was allowed at all. Since there were eight classes in his level they would be split, four classes would go for the first session and the next four the second session. Alex was in the first session.

"Wow, this sounds exciting!" Tom exclaimed. Alex could only chuckle half-heartedly.

"Not too exciting after you're there."

Tom looked at him. "What do you mean? You've been there? How do you…" His friend fell silent for a while. "Oh. Yeah. You've been there."

The rest of the day went in a blur with Tom reminding him of the prom constantly until French lesson. Erika was already at her seat when Alex came and he saw her flip the book close when he sat down. She set down her pen with her left hand. _Left hand?_

"Weren't you…like, right-handed?" Alex asked curiously.

She laughed humorlessly. "Curiosity killed the cat. Don't you ever learn?" She looked at him, her brown hair band suddenly becoming obvious. "I suppose you don't. Anyway, I can write with both hands, stand on both hands separately, punch with both hands, fight with a sword with both hands, shoot a gun with both…" She trailed off, realizing her mistake too late.

"Shoot?" He queried.

"Yeah…err…I do shooting as a sport. You know…that…"

"Yeah, I know." Alex didn't believe her but she looked fit and that had to be an explanation. "So do you do any other sport?"

She relaxed. "Gymnastics and running. How about you?"

He saw she was trying to change the subject. "Soccer. So what kind of gymnastics and running in particular?" He was trying to find out more about her, as much as he could.

"Artistic gymnastics. I'm training specially for the uneven bars and balance beam. Youth Olympics coming soon and stuff…"

"Wait, you're going for the _Olympics_?!"

"Youth Olympics. I'm going to. I've already got selected in the national team. As for running I'm just a cross-country runner. Came in second in the championships last year but I didn't have time to take part this year…was…busy."

"That's great. You do three sports. I wouldn't suppose any would be particularly violent so as to explain the multiple bruises and cuts on you?"

She narrowed her eyes. "So this is where it's leading? No, it's got nothing to do with my sports." She winced at the pain her arm was causing her.

"Then how do you manage your time? I mean…you're good at academics."

"Home school. I learn everything ahead and when I slack back I don't lose much ground because I haven't missed anything and besides, this is my first time in a proper school and I must say I'm appalled by the IQ of all of you here. My tutor used to say I was lagging behind a lot but I guess I was lagging behind _her_ standards, which actually wasn't literally lagging behind." Erika looked indifferently at him. "You've been missing quite some but of school haven't you? What are you? In some sport or something?"

Alex had to lie again. "No, I just fall sick easily."

She looked at him as if she knew exactly what he meant. "Oh yes, you certainly look very sickly to me." All of a sudden, Alex felt somehow attracted to her, like a barrier had been broken and all emotion had come back to him at once.

"So err…do you have anyone to go with to the prom?"

A wide sly smile spread across her face. "Bold are you. I have quite a few asking. There's this…Ralph? And Gerald? Don? Joe? Will? Matthew? Klaus? Why should it be you?" She challenged him. All the names she had listed were the names of the boys in the 'cool' gang and they all had girlfriends. Erika's beauty must have attracted them too probably but he was just going to stay simple.

"Because I'm the eighth one to ask you?" – or maybe joke.

"Nice try." She folded her arms. "Extremely convincing that every girl in town would want to date you just because of your charming eight-word sentence."

"Well the world's unfair as you say so is it a yes?"

"The world's cold too. No mercy too, I've actually already said yes to Ralph and a man must uphold his promise." He was shocked with the dignity and righteousness in her voice. "You're a nice guy, Alex, and I would love to but I can't compromise on my values just to make myself happy." She said in a nicer and softer tone that made Alex feel better. Besides, a million other boys would be asking her too. After having an awkward French lesson with her not paying attention again, a pretty blonde girl came up to him.

"Hi, you bumped into me in the hall the other day, was wondering if you have anyone to go to the prom with. I'm Alicia." Perfect. So he could just find another girl to go with, any random one. Alicia was slim and had fair skin and pale blue eyes. She was overall quite pretty but not exactly anymore when compared with Erika. Why was it that a single person had to bag everything? The looks; the grades; the attention; the prizes and medals. Erika was a perfect example.

He smiled back at her. "Sure I'll go with you."

Alicia almost squealed with joy until Alex realized his mistake too late. Alicia was Ralph's girlfriend supposedly and was he doing any hurt to his current social life by agreeing? He couldn't give a damn.

"Awesome. So you're going with Alicia? Then what happens to poor Ralph?" Tom sounded so happy for him.

"He's with Erika." Alex said sourly not knowing why.

"Aww c'mon, Alicia's pretty good too. As long as you've got someone, you're social life won't certainly go bust and no one will think you're some freak nerd." Tom's language was going a little off. It always did when he lost himself in euphoria.

"So how's the project moving? It isn't moving is it?" Alex wanted to change the subject.

"Hey don't look at me. Erika's in charge."

Alex saw her quite near by so they both headed towards her but only after Ralph was there.

"Hey." Ralph leaned on her locker and she sighed. "What are you wearing for the prom?"

"Not you're business." She reached out for her locker but Ralph leaned against it.

"Is now."

"Go away. If I knew you were such a loser I wouldn't have agreed."

"Oh! Is that so?"

"Now bummer off, I need to get my stuff." Ralph defiantly stayed there. "You leave me no choice. It shall be your folly." Alex's eyes widened as he saw her grab Ralph's collar with her strong left hand and her fist holding it tug him away with such strength that Alex heard Tom gulp and whisper to him, "You sure that's our group member?" Ralph staggered away in embarrassment.

"She's some fantastic sports person, what do you expect when it comes to strength?" Her gaze fell upon them and she smiled thinly at them.

"What about our group project…"

"I don't know but I did the power point already. You can just go add some pictures into it or something, make it understandable for our dimwitted classmates." She waved at them. "I'm off." And she tossed Alex the thumb drive casually. Tom looked up at his friend and they both mouthed one word together. "Wow".

Friday night came quickly. Alex wore a grey jacket over his black shirt and slipped on a pair of grey pants. He looked casually formal. _Like an MI6 operative_. The thought made him shiver. He couldn't be bothered to neaten up his hair or anything, after all he was just going to be there since his life needed to look normal again and this was a first stepping-stone. Alicia would be waiting for him near the school so he slipped a wallet and a cell phone into his pocket and left after acknowledging his leave with Jack. After a not very tiring walk, he met Alicia at the spot as planned and indifferently handed her a rose that Jack insisted he bring.

"Here. This is for you." He saw her blush and could only roll his eyes. She was wearing a light blue silk dress that stopped above her knees and some high heels that Alex had no idea how girls walked in them.

"Thank you…" She stammered. He felt nothing for her. The hall was half filled when they had reached school and Alex saw Erika with Ralph at the table next to theirs. She was wearing an all black dress that reached the ground and a diamond pendant hung significantly on her neck along with some matching strings of diamonds as earrings. She wore heels too. On her brown hair was a diamond studded hair band that did not look too heavy and she looked absolutely beautiful with her hair cascading smoothly to cover the marks that were no longer obvious except for the gash on her right arm. Ralph was clad in a black suit as well and Alex could see he had got over the shock he had of Erika shoving him away on Tuesday. Erika glanced over at him and smiled. She looked bored with the crowd of people around her talking about something she obviously wasn't interested in. Her serious eyes seemed to be scanning the area for something that Alex didn't know. Alicia cast a longing look at the group then got up to dance with Alex as the music had started and most were heading to the floor. He wasn't exactly a great dancer as he could tell Alicia was so he just coldly stepped around the floor with her, not really looking at her. Where was Tom? He bumped into Erika and Ralph and she whispered something to him as they went by, "Danger." He wasn't sure what that meant until the sound of a gun shot echoed a few seconds later and everyone went stone still then the entire cohort there turned rowdy and pandemonium broke out. Alicia gripped onto his hand weakly and cast a furtive look at him as if he could save her.

"Get out of here!" He shouted to her over the screams. He saw some teachers had come in the help usher people out and some had started calling for help with their cell phones. She shook her head dramatically and Alex rolled his eyes. How did Erika know there was danger? Was it by pure luck? He didn't think so. Alex grabbed Alicia by the arm and pulled her out into the field where everyone else had gathered then searched around for Erika. He saw her not too far away alone. She was shouting violently but to who, he didn't know. As he neared he saw her get frustrated with the person she was shouting at and rip off her hair band. He stopped. There was no one around. Erika saw him and she tried to force a smile.

"Hi. Wanted to warn you about it earlier but…"

"How did you know?"

"Saw a man with a gun at the second floor of the gymnasium, he was aiming at you."

She poked him in the left shoulder and almost pushed him back. "You're lucky I bumped into you."

"Who are you?" He demanded.

She broke the hair band she was holding. "I'm Erika Louvre. And you better be glad I just saved your life." Ralph came to her side and looked offensively at Alex.

"What you doing now?" He nodded his head at him.

"We're having a conversation." Erika stared at him. Alicia scrambled through the crowd and grabbed Alex on the shoulder.

"Alex I thought I'd never find you…" She trailed off as she saw Ralph. Alex walked away, not caring about Alicia. Besides, he never did. No one cared for him and he cared for no one anyway. A man with his hands behind his back was brought out from the school and all the students gasped and more speculative whispers were heard and accusing fingers pointing at him and all.

"All students! The prom night is officially over. Sorry but the school has to be checked thoroughly. Remember to be present at the camp on Monday!"  
There were a few protests and some shouts of disagreement but most people just walked away and groaned and complained unhappily.

"I'll go home by myself." Alicia told him, sensing his coldness towards her.

Erika refused Ralph's offer to walk her home. The last thing she needed was some loser walking up her front doorstep. Walking with a slight limp now, she made her way home, which was thankfully nearby and within walking distance. The heels made her feel vulnerable so she kicked them off and carried them home instead, walking barefooted would be less of a handicap. The gash running up her right arm was giving her a searing pain at the moment but what could she do? The last thing she wanted was to fall onto the pavement yelling because of some _smal_l cut – well, it wasn't exactly _small_. It was already eight and the sky had turned dark already. Why was that sniper aiming for Alex anyway? What was he doing at school? Who was Alex? Some drug delinquent as her classmates had told her? Some juvenile? He didn't look like that sort of guy though. She reached the main gate of her house and sighed sadly. A tall grand house stood towering above her. It had all the luxuries anyone could wish for. A pool, a huge garden, a boulevard, a drive way, three stories each packed with huge rooms of different themes. She slipped on her heels again and walked up the hill to her house.

"Where'd you been sister?" Nate, her brother had just entered the back door from his night swim and had a towel draped round him though it didn't hide the muscles he had.

"Some lousy school prom. Dad and Mom not back yet right?" She asked.  
Her brother got a drink. "Nope. End of the summer break Dad will be back for a week and in two months time Mom will be back for three weeks."  
Erika didn't sigh. It was typical of her parents to not be around all the time and they had grown up in an environment with military officials guarding the house and housemaids and tutors bringing them up. "Where's Wren?" Wren was her older sister of age seventeen and her brother was eighteen.

"At home." Her brother climbed the stairs before her.

"Home's a huge place."

"Well somewhere at home would be good in comparison to England right?" Erika reached the third floor and ignored her brother as she entered her room. It was huge but who needed a huge room when they were never home? She threw her heels aside and got changed into a nightgown. The next day, the maids were sure to pack everything up for her. At one corner of her room was her study den where one could find the hardest textbooks and at the other corner was her walk-in closet and bathroom. Her entire room was specially designed by some French guy, Erika couldn't care much about from Italy. Basically her room had the red theme, which Erika absolutely loved. The door cracked open.

"Erik-a! Nice to see you back." Wren came into her room and saw her gash on her arm.

"Hey, you want to talk?" Wren was the next closest thing to a mother since they had grown up together without one.

"About how clever I am or how you could try to get out of the room?"

"About how this whole thing has affected you." Her sister was very patient.  
Erika sat unto her bed and heaved. "I don't want to talk about it. The thing is I'm alive and I'm still on the national team and I'm still more intelligent than everyone and I'm happy!"

"Well you don't sound so to me."

"It's just I'm trying to become some normal person okay?" She looked at her sister. Wren had dark curls falling over the side of her face and two blue eyes looked concernedly back at her. On a whole, her entire family was good-looking – at least her siblings because Erika had never had one good look at her parents.

"And going to public school will help?"

"That's what normal people do. They don't stay at home and get forced to learn difficult stuff. You know what? The kids there don't even know what a binomial theorem is! I just realize I've studied two years ahead of them." She was getting annoyed by her worried sister.

"Isn't that better? Then you'll have more time for training."

"It isn't when I have to live two lives at the same time and go to school with this!" Erika pointed at her gash angrily. "And everyone can just go on and think Erika is some weird girl. She's great at sports and studies and she slashes herself 'cause she's plain weird!" Wren looked shocked. "I'm just popular because of my looks okay? Not because of me but who cares? The world's crazy out there!" Erika realized how rude she had been to her sister and in a softer tone said, "I'm sorry…"

"No. I should be. I shouldn't have disturbed you." Wren got up and left.  
Erika fell back into her bed and left the darkness of sleep overwhelm her and drag her away from her current life.


End file.
